8 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JUNE 2020
IN THE NEWS
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
LI ODS SPIKE AMID PANDEMIC
Overdoses are spiking on Long Island due to the
coronavirus pandemic, which has reversed progress
that the region made in fighting the opioid crisis amid
joblessness, stress, and isolation that were brought on
by COVID-19, data shows.
Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini told the
Press that fatal overdoses are up 43 percent in Suffolk
Countyas of May 10, with 42 residents dying from
April 5 to May 10, according to police reports of suspected
overdoses. Nonfatal overdoses increased by 19
percent this year, Sini said. Nassau County released
only the number of nonfatal overdoses for 2020,
which are up by 8 percent this year as of May 13, said
Nassau County Police Department Chief Spokesman
Lt. Richard LeBrun.
“This is a huge concern of ours,” Suffolk County
Executive Steve Bellone said. “We talk about a crisis
like this and the impact that it has, the emotional
impact, the financial impact, just the stress that
it causes. It is not a good situation for people
who are dealing with addiction
issues.”
The statistics
show that overdoses
claimed
the lives of
116 Suffolk
residents
between
January
1 and May
10, compared
to 81 residents
who died of overdoses during the same time period
last year. These numbers include only Suffolk’s five
western towns and not the five East End towns.
AGAINST GUIDELINES, FREEPORT CLEARS
ENCAMPMENT
The Village of Freeport recently removed a dozen
day laborers who were living in shanties in a wooded
area off Sunrise Highway, countering federal health
guidelines that recommend not clearing out homeless
encampments during the coronavirus pandemic.
The day laborers — undocumented immigrants from
El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Latin American
counties — had lived for years in an area known as La
Montaña, Spanish for The Mountain, but the village
gave them 72 hours last month to gather their few
belongings and get out. The village cited health and
safety reasons for the move, but advocates said the
encampment eviction will only worsen the COVID-19
crisis.
“We have no choice but to get you off the property,”
the village wrote in notices taped to trees in the area,
according to Noticia Long Island, the Press’s Spanish
language sister publication.
Hispanics make up 14 percent of coronavirus fatalities
in New York State despite being only 12 percent
of the population statewide.
The encampment was nestled in a wooded area
between Route 27, the Long Island Rail Road tracks,
Meadowbrook State Parkway, and a public works
yard.
EPSTEIN’S LI LAWYER TO BE DEPOSED
Convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey
Epstein’s longtime lawyer who grew up in
Glen Cove is reportedly
scheduled to be
questioned under oath about his
late boss’s crimes.
Darren Indyke, who was Epstein’s attorney for two
decades and was named co-executor of his estate, will
be deposed June 22 as a witness in a lawsuit filed by
Epstein’s victims, according to the New York Daily
News.
“The attorneys will look to grill Indyke about his possible
role helping Epstein maintain his super-villain
lifestyle,” the newspaper reported. “The deposition
will likely lead to thorny conflict of interest questions
about Indyke’s status as executor of Epstein’s $634
million estate and possible witness to alleged crimes
committed by the financier.”
Authorities have said that Epstein, the 66-year-old
registered sex offender, who allegedly sex trafficked
and abused dozens of girls who were minors over the
years, died by apparent suicide Aug. 10. in his Manhattan
federal jail cell following an earlier attempted
suicide.
SCPD IDS GILGO BEACH VICTIM
Suffolk County police released the name of a woman
whose remains were found 20 years ago in Manorville
and nine years ago 50 miles away near Gilgo
Beach.
The woman was identified as Valerie Mack, aka
Melissa Taylor, 24, who was working as an escort in
Philadelphia at the time of her disappearance. She
had been known as Manorville Jane Doe, or Jane
Doe No. 6. Mack’s family members last saw her in
the spring or summer of 2000 in the area of Port
Republic, New Jersey.
Police and the FBI used a scientific technique known
as genetic genealogy that aided
in identifying Mack. This
is believed to be the first
time a law
enforcement agency in
New York State has used genetic
genealogy to identify an individual as
part of a police investigation, police said.
SUFFOLK JUDGES RESIGNS AFTER DWI
Longtime Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge
William B. Rebolini resigned in May after admitting
to driving drunk and trying to use his title to avoid
arrest, the New York State Commission on Judicial
Conduct said.
Judge Rebolini had pleaded guilty in January 2019
to driving while ability impaired by alcohol. He was
sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge, 40
hours of community service, and was ordered to pay
a $500 fine and a $260 surcharge. He later agreed
to resign following a disciplinary action from the
commission.
“Judges are obliged to respect and comply with the
law,” Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian
said in a statement.
“I enthusiastically look forward to a new chapter in
my life with new opportunities and new beginnings
as I retire from the courts,” Rebolini wrote March 12
in his resignation letter.
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